Kittatinny students hear from women in leadership

Hampton — Women’s History Month didn’t go out like a lamb for Kittatinny High School students. In a special assembly on Thursday, March 29, students in grades 10, 11 and 12 heard the stories of six dynamic women at the top of their fields. The panel represented business ownership, the corporate and non-profit sectors, labor and medicine. The one thing they all had in common was not calling themselves successful. Several of the women claimed they are still working on their careers, still striving. They also urged the students to follow their passions, whatever they may be. Principal Susan Kappler introduced the panel and explained to the students that, although March 8, 1911 was proclaimed International Women’s Day in Europe, it took the United States until 1981 to catch on with Women’s History Week. In 1987, it became Women’s History Month. “You are charged,” Kappler reminded the students, “with the task of recognizing the potential of all you meet.” Mary Ann Stanek, business teacher and co-chair of the assembly, noted she was glad to field a diverse group of women since the students at Kittatinny are “sheltered.” Lorna Rodriguez-Rodriguez, chief of gynecological oncology at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, pointed out she’s a diverse group all by herself: left-handed, Puerto Rican, gay and the mother of four. She has both a Ph.D. and an MD, “because I couldn’t make up my mind,” treats clinical patients in the morning and does research in the afternoon. In the evening, she helps with fifth-grade homework. As a researcher into ovarian cancer, Rodriguez noted many of the experiments she conducts “don’t get anywhere.” But, she added, negative answers move you forward.” She admitted, “Until recently, I wouldn’t tell anyone we were making progress because they would say I was a dreamer.” Working with women with cancer means, “some I can cure; for others, I can take care of the pain and work with the families.” The one “Jersey Girl” of the group was Arlene Oberst, author of “Chicken Soup for the Volunteer’s Soul.“ “In high school, I was told I was never going to do well in life because I liked boys too much.” She married her high school sweetheart and traded her dream of opening a dancing school for opening a day care center, which “was like an extended family.” She walked away from that when it was successful and turned to helping parents find quality child care, and finally became a trainer for Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey. “I wasn’t sure I was the right person for that job,” she admitted. “A lot of people didn’t want to hear about it. A lot of people didn’t want to believe it happened.” Doing the work, she noticed there was “not much celebration of the volunteer,” which led to the book. “When you feel something pulling you, you’ve got to go with it,” she told the students. “We never know what we can do until we try.” “Nobody says I want to work in the insurance industry when I grow up,” Donna Griffin said with a laugh. She’s managing director of worldwide operations of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies. “I went to school for teaching,” she said, noting that was typical for girls in her day. Originally from Rhode Island, “I went to college with people from New Jersey and at 26, I quit my job and moved here.” Other moves weren’t so spontaneous, but were at the behest of the company. “I learned a lot about myself when I was challenged to work somewhere where I didn’t know anyone.” Griffin told the girls in the audience they were given a tremendous advantage when Title 9 granted them equality in sports, noting she learned to be competitive in business. Another field that doesn’t lend itself to “when I grow up I want to be . . . . ” would be working with a chamber of commerce, as Joan Verplanck, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, noted. The introduction noted she was named one of New Jersey’s power players by New Jersey Monthly. She impressed the students even more by noting that growing up in Detroit, the bands at their school dancers were Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Her first “professional” challenge, Verplanck said, was when, at age 24, she had just had a baby and was also responsible for her stepdaughters, who were then in third and fifth grade when their mother was injured in an accident. Noting “all the self-help books said make yourself a plan and stick with it,” she admitted, “I had not idea what I wanted to do.” Her first chamber of commerce responsibility was with a “little tourist chamber over two states.” She said she learned by copying people who were doing well. A good portion of her job is being “a dirty, filthy lobbyist,” but she explained with more than 6,000 bills introduced into the state legislature each year the legislators “can’t understand the ramifications of all of them.” She also pointed out, “I only need to lie once and I’ll never be taken seriously again.” Sherryl Gordon claimed, “I’ve carved out a piece of heaven here,” as vice president of the Eastern region of the American Federation of state, county and municipal employees. She first applied for a union job when she heard unions paid well and got the job when she slogged through a snowstorm to make the interview. Hired as a receptionist, she acknowledges she was “a symbolic presence,” as a black woman in a white, male-dominated situation. “But I fell in love with the union and if you work at something you love it’s easy to become successful.” She noted it was difficult for people in state government to accept her leadership, but she “loved to fight and I taught the state that’s what little girls do.” Gordon informed the students, “Life won’t be handed to you, nor should it.” Barbara Arman is president and chief executive officer of Armand Corporation, a construction supervision and management firm. She started the company 16 years ago out of her home. Her first contract was for $150. Her largest contract, with New Jersey Transit, was for $5 million. She advised students to “put your heart and talent into everything you do. See the good in everyone and realize your potential, that the world is ready for you.”